Multi-polar stimulation of the left ventricle during cardio-resynchronisation therapy in patients with congestive heart failure: randomised pilot study outcomes from parallel groups

Background. Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) has been used for the treatment of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and wide QRS complexes for more than ten years. Nevertheless, the percentage of patients unresponsive to this therapy is 30%. There is recent evidence for increased responder proportions to treatments with multipolar pacing of the left ventricle (LV) in CRT. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-polar pacing of LV in patients with CHF and indications for CRT. Methods. Sixty-two patients [42 men, mean age 62.5 (58-68) years] with CHF and indications for CRT (for example patients with symptomatic heart failure and QRS duration >130 ms with left bundle branch block and left ventricular ejection fraction